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Both quarterbacks are high-profile players who understandably attract plenty of attention and criticism. How fair has the commentary truly been?
Season 3 of FX’s The Bear released a few weeks ago and if you are anything like us then you have already finished it.
This is a spoiler-free zone so don’t worry, but it isn’t revealing anything to say that reception around the season has been poor. In fact a lot of people (RJ) are saying it stinks out loud.
Michael is on the other side of things a bit though which means we have a good ‘ol divided opinion on our hands. This got us thinking… what else in the NFL are people divided on? Generally speaking.
To be clear the question isn’t what do people disagree on. We are talking about things that people believe in one way or another.
We came up with some examples for the latest edition of The Skinny Post.
Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys in general
RJ: My job around here is to cover the Dallas Cowboys and it is one that I am very grateful for, especially because they live in the world of divided opinions.
Nothing is ever evaluated for the Cowboys in the way that it is for anyone else. This is not me trying to play some victim but just making a statement of fact. Consider the types of discussions around the Cowboys that you yourself have been a part of over the last 3 years or so. People think Mike McCarthy sucks. Other think that Dak Prescott sucks. The front office sucks to some people. Everybody sucks.
Do you know how many teams have won more regular season (I know the joke writes itself) games than the Cowboys over the last 3 years? I talked about it in this video for Blogging The Boys (it is admittedly in Spanish, my latest project). One! The Kansas City Chiefs.
While I will fully recognize that the Cowboys have fallen short in the playoffs and criticize them for that it sure seems like we gloss over things in the name of making fun of them. Remember when Dan Campbell helped blow a 17-point lead in the NFC Championship Game? Have you heard anybody bring that up this offseason? Or how about when Kyle Shanahan didn’t totally know the rules to overtime in the Super Bowl? Again not playing a victim, but imagine if Mike McCarthy did either of those things.
Justin Herbert evaluation is also all over the map
Michael: Wow. Just a couple of homers who somehow were given a platform to discuss their favorite teams. How did we get the green light for this?
At any rate, I’ll see your Dak Prescott commentary and raise you the eye-rolling, cringe-inducing dialogue about Justin Herbert and how there are still real, breathing people who don’t believe he’s one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. Did these people not see how much he produced through his first two professional seasons? Set the rookie passing touchdowns record and nearly set the passing yards mark as well? Throwing for 5,000 yards as a sophomore behind only Tom Brady in 2021? None of this is ringing a bell?
Well, that’s not surprising because most casual fans only view players from a “what have you done for me lately?” lens and that’s just not going to make Herbert look all that great. Team wins matter at the end of the day and the Chargers just haven’t been as successful as many believe they should have been in recent years, but why does every ounce of blame seem to keep getting stapled to Herbert’s forehead? Have you….seen the defense that he’s been playing with the past three seasons? You know, the one ranked in the bottom three over the span of Brandon Staley’s tenure? Have you seen the run game that Herbert had to work off of?
Anyone who knows ball understand whys things haven’t panned out well for Herbert. They can piece together why all of the individual hype around him doesn’t match the team success. They can separate the two and see a clearer picture. Unfortunately, it’s the majority that can’t seem to get the hang of that.
The “clutch factor” has been thrown around a lot with Herbert, as well.
“He can’t come through at the end of games! Even his former teammate (Chris Harris) said he was lacking that trait!”
Give me a break already. When looking at his contemporaries from the 2020 draft (Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow) Herbert has the most game-winning drives and fourth-quarter comebacks of all four. At the same time, Herbert has played the most drives in the fourth quarter while either tied or down by 1-8 points at 88. If you combine the same total for both Hurts and Tua, you only get 70. So what does that tell you? The Chargers have put Herbert in that position over and over and over again in recent years while the Dolphins, Eagles, and Bengals have been much kinder to their franchise quarterbacks.
I could seriously rattle on for a very long time, but the point is this: If you’ve watched (suffered through) every single game of Justin Herbert’s career, you’d understandable exactly why the math isn’t math-ing for the casual fans. There’s nuance to these types of discussion and when sports fandom (an actual psychological illness) gets in the way, it’s almost impossible to have them in good faith.
The NFL offseason really isn’t that long
RJ: When I was younger I felt like the NFL offseason took forever. Maybe I am old now.
Is it me or does it not feel so bad? I am not saying that it is flying by because I don’t believe that to be the case, but it all feels like a fair and normal pace to me.
Perhaps I am running off of the high that we have now gotten from the new Hard Knocks or maybe the league just does a great job of dropping things at a nice enough pace that it never feels like we are starving for football-related content, but either way time is not moving agonizingly slow in this regard which is a new thing for me.
Consider that it is now officially the third week of July. Training camp starts basically now! And this week, the new college football video game comes out.
The offseason is perfect. I can’t believe that I think this.
The 18-game schedule should be the future of the NFL
Michael: So I’m actually pretty against the idea of an 18-game regular season for the NFL. I thought it was wild when they moved to 17 games and now they may add another? Come on now.
Adding an 18th game means they’ll chop another exhibition off the preseason slate which I believe isn’t getting enough respect by the league or the fans. The games played in August are extremely important for a lot of players who need every ounce of those opportunities to try and realize their dream of playing in the NFL. A guy like Austin Ekeler and his coaches at the time both admitted that he made the Chargers off his performance in the final preseason game that year. Without it, who knows where he’d be right now.
Part of what’s beautiful about professional sports is the ability to root for the little guy. The underdog. We all love that story. So why is the NFL seemingly throwing them to the wayside while further minimizing their shot at making it? I just don’t get it. Money is money. We know it runs the world, but I feel like this is something the NFLPA needs to squash when they get the chance.
The final game or two of the regular season is already near-unwatchable as playoff-bound squads bench their starters for the sake of health anyway. There’s just no need to extend it for any other reason than a financially-selfish one.
